Quote Originally Posted by corktownyuppie View Post
CY for Mayor? Ha. Kidding.

I don't think people are saying the above things because:

[[1) This is going to sound elitist, so be warned. The masses hear those things and it goes in one ear and out the other. It's why our newspapers are written at an 8th-grade reading level. Our television news are essentially at a 5th-grade level. Unfortunately, most 8th graders are ill-equipped to solve complex problems such as an aging population, a displaced workforce, and a governmental structure designed for a very different time.

This is why the number of people who watch local news is 1,000x the number of people who read the monthly issue of "The Economist".

[[2) The long-term economic growth plan is not a feasible platform to be elected Mayor or City Council. The very people who are voting right now are not necessarily going to be the same people who will benefit from the plan. No one ever wins elections because of their austerity plan for local citizens.



I hear the frustration in your words, which is understandable. The sad thing is that there are solutions and have been solutions. All of which were at least worthy of serious consideration and debate.

There's an article I'm linking to below citing that when Joe Harris was working in the Detroit government, he found ways to shave millions out of the operating expense but was ignored

"
Call it "Revenge of the Accountant."


When Bing tried to roll out the Detroit Works plan, you can argue that the way he did was politically stupid. But even though the ideas were sound, his presentations were met with hostility every step of the way.

Foundation after foundation, consultant after consultant, had ideas for restructuring and long-term growth...but all on deaf ears.

So while many in Detroit are now pissed off about hearing the threat of an EM...many others [[including myself) are sitting here saying, "How the f**k is anyone surprised? This didn't just happen overnight. We've been talking about how to solve this for years. But every time we bring it up, all we hear about is how "outsiders are coming in and taking away our jewels".

I'm sad that we're in the position we're in. But we can't work on our long-term growth plan until we do the restructuring part first. You can't do step 2 until you do step 1. And people have been fighting step 1 for as long as I can remember. Well, we waited this long, and now step 1 is going to hurt like hell. Let's get it done already so we can do the step 2 that everyone's been wanting to get started on for a decade.
I will go a bit further. I want Detroit to DIE. Yes, die a brutal death because continuing to prop up the old Detroit has brought us to this point in time. A point where props no longer work. Detroit needs to be anew but continue to resuscitate a rotting corpse only prolong the truth that all Detroiters need to acknowledge.